No Santa or special celebrations
There will be no neatly wrapped presents and other festive treats waiting for the hundreds of young children living in Gloriavale on Christmas Day. That’s because Santa Claus and the Easter bunny — and the respective days of the year they are synonymous with among most of New Zealand’s population — are banned by commune leaders.
And Gloriavale’s young population — which the 2023 Census stated featured 204 children under 10 in the commune’s overall population of 468 — also doesn’t get visits from fellow kids’ favourite the tooth fairy.
“A Bible-based society has no place for many of the traditions and fables of Western society, some of which are based on pagan superstitions or false religion,” Gloriavale’s publication Life in Common reveals.
“We don’t celebrate Christmas, which is based on the pagan winter solstic [sic] celebration for the rebirth of the sun god, & the unscriptural ceremony of the Mass.
“Santa Claus, the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy do not visit us.”
Gloriavale’s guiding rules state all 365 days of the year are equals; Christmas, Easter, other public holidays and birthdays are not celebrated.
Weekdays and months are also named numerically — for instance the 1st month or 5th day — as A Life in Common states “their normal names glorify pagan gods”.
While Santa won’t be visiting the children of the dozens of families living in Gloriavale, commune leavers spoken to by the Herald said they would be making up for lost time.
Gloriavale was home for Pearl Valor until she and her husband, Paul, decided to leave in December 2021.
The couple — who then had four young children — have featured in documentary series Gloriavale — Life and Death with footage including their courtship and eventual marriage.
Four years on, Pearl said her family were happy to be able to celebrate public holidays.
This Christmas, there will be presents for all their children on a “family-oriented” day.
“There’s nothing harmful about making life happy and magic for your children,” Pearl said.
The anticipation for the festive season is also building up in the home of Virginia and David Courage and their 11 children.
The family left Gloriavale in 2019, when Virginia and David had 10 kids.
A “big family lunch” will be on the cards, most likely featuring some of Virginia’s other siblings who have also left Gloriavale.
“My kids have been busy writing their Santa lists for months,” Virginia said.
Before the family celebrated Christmas in 2019, they had another first to celebrate — David’s birthday.
His 39th birthday was the first the Courage family celebrated after they quit Gloriavale.
In A Life in Common , Gloriavale leaders simply say life in the commune does not feature “special days such as birthdays and anniversaries”.
The booklet — and Gloriavale’s website — goes into detail on the respective uniforms worn by community members.
The clothing — including dresses in either blue or pink for women and girls, and blue for males of all ages — is described as “modest”.
“Jewels, fancy hairstyles and makeup” are banned.
AGloriavale says it chose blue for most of its dress code because “it’s a colour that goes well with any skin colour or complexion”.
Women also wear headscarves with their long hair “as a sign to the angels that a woman has placed herself in submission to the authority of the man”.
Virginia and Pearl both talked to the Herald on how they view the uniform and their feelings whenever they see someone wearing it.
For Virginia, the uniform “signifies domination”.
“It is the removal of people’s freedom and right to choose,” she said.
Since leaving Gloriavale, she was visited by family members who were still part of the religious community.
While happy to see them, the vision of them in their blue uniforms “would give me a panic attack”.
When asked how she felt now when she saw the uniform, Pearl replied: “Nervous system dysregulation; triggering . . . control.”
Virginia was born in the Gloriavale community.
For the first 10 years of her life, members were able to choose what to wear as long as it was “still modest”.
The uniforms were introduced in 1988.
She says it was about “removing freedom”, while Gloriavale explains on its website the decision was to “prevent the expression of vanity as much as possible, and to make our purchasing of materials and the sewing of clothes more economical”.
“Since making the change, we have found that the women are more content to all have the same standard and that we have also saved a lot of time in the sewing room.”
While many families and communities in New Zealand have been preparing for Christmas, Gloriavale leaders were awaiting the fate of its private school. In October, the Ministry of Education put the leaders of Gloriavale on notice it was considering closing its private school based on “serious concerns” raised in Education Review Office audits that it was not a physically or mentally safe place for children.
The ministry has now decided to close the school.
Its schooling — especially the limited options for girls — also came under fire from high-profile leavers, including Pearl, who recently told the Herald what was provided to girls was focused on “what a woman’s place was”.
Senior schooling — to the age of 15 — teaches girls sewing, cooking and childcare. Boys are taught subjects such as farming, carpentry and engineering.
About 220 children are schooled inside Gloriavale, which is on the West Coast.
Just under 100 go to the private school, which teaches children up to the age of 15, in a ministry-approved homeschooling programme.
Gloriavale leadership have told the Herald they would not publicly comment whether they believed their school was up to standard.
But its website says it is “not interested in education for the sake of education, nor in placing our people in university campuses where ungodly attitudes can prevail”.
“We are interested in education only where it can equip us to meet the needs of our community life,” the religious community’s leaders state.
The roles women play inside Gloriavale are expanded on in a chapter titled The Sisters’ Realm in the booklet A Life in Common.
The publication states: “Dedicated to their roles as wives and mothers, our sisters study the arts of child rearing and home-making very seriously.
“In a typical week, womenfolk will prepare more than 11,000 meals and wash at least 17,000 laundry items.
“Extra work may include bottling fruit preserves, cutting up meat, making butter or cheese, or freezing produce for future use.”
Other work included teaching and clothing manufacturing. “The sisters’ contribution to community life is essential and well appreciated by all.”